C o M e C S  -  Project        

 

Comet and Meteorite Materials - Studied by Chemometrics of Spectroscopic Data

 

Comet Samples   /  Overview (2015)

 

Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko

Distance 81 km, 3 Aug 2014 ("arrival at comet"), NAVCAM (ESA). Ca 400 million km from Earth (half way between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars). [ESA 150806]

Textfeld: Size 6 km x 4 km x 3 km; density 0.53 g/cm3; orbit: 6.44 y; 1.2 - 5.7 AU Textfeld:   

 

 

 

 

                                         Detail from 8 km,

                                         14 Oct 2014

                                         [ESA 150125]

   

"Eloi"                            "Arvid"

Comet grains: Collected by COSIMA on gold targets; 25 - 31 Oct 2014; 10 - 20 km distance from comet; distance from Sun ca 3.1 AU. Grain diameter: 200 - 500 mm; height (from shadow): 60 - 100 mm. Names given by Sihane Merouane, MPS. Upper picture, illumination from right; lower picture, illumination from left.

Both grains were partly broken into small particles ("rubble pile") at impact (velocity 1 - 10 m/s). These "fluffy" grains are thought to originate from the dusty layer built up on the comet’s surface since its last close approach to the Sun, and will soon be lost into the coma when the comet approaches the Sun.

MPS report: [English] [German]

 

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